Category Archives: Models

This is what we’re all about. We scour the web for the best custom LEGO models to share with you. From castles and spaceships to planes, trains, and automobiles, you’ll find the best LEGO creations from builders all over the world right here on The Brothers Brick.

Gundam grunt has a turn in the spotlight

Gundam mech designs are often covered in sharp angles, making it difficult to portray them in LEGO form. However, Derrick Li has done a fantastic job at recreating this GM mech from the Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt anime. Instead of going for a flat, plain visor, the green eye area protrudes out slightly in order to form a more circular shape for the head. The areas in dark turquoise are actually dark blue in the original design, but the color change in this model assists in accentuating the details of the torso.

The model also looks to be well articulated, and it comes equipped with a rifle and a beam saber. Macaroni pieces perfectly create the odd rounded feet of the mech.

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The City of Brotherly...LEGO?

Once again displaying his mastery of the microscale LEGO arts, Rocco Buttliere heads to the City of Brotherly Love. The perfectly captured Philadelphia City Hall, still the world’s tallest occupied structure without steel supports at 548 feet tall, is a desktop-sized 10 inches tall here at 1:650 scale.

Come examine the fine details with us!

A cup of joe to go – at 10,000ft!

I love the nostalgia that surrounds Route 66, and Crises_crs shoots for the sky with this retrofitted reimagining of a Route 66 diner. The trucks parked as they are adds a depth of everyday realism to the build, and the repurposed vehicles really compliment the futuristic design, with hover conversion technology erupting below the trucks’ original frames. The diner itself has a nice amount of detail, with space allowing for the trucks to moor, and for the drivers to sit and rest. The adverts that homage the Route 66 of long ago is the perfect finishing touch.

This speedster lifts and separates

The cool thing about designing spaceships is that space travel is more or less in its infancy here on Earth so we can still dream up all sorts of wild and wacky designs. Take this LEGO “Comet” Speedster concept built by Marco De Bon for example. It is chock full of neat build techniques and complex angles. The forward dishes are Ninjago Spinners making the model tricky to balance according to the builder. Speedster implies speed but I imagine the forward mandibles can lift a payload magnetically while the aft section sports four Brick Separators, hence the lifts and separates reference in the title. I definitely wasn’t thinking of a retro bra ad when I thought up the title so don’t get that idea in your heads.

Rancor vs Skorpenek – Microscale battle between two miniature monsters

If you were as thrilled as I was to see the mighty rancor roar in the basement of Jabba’s palace in theaters when Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi premiered in 1983, despite the stop-motion effects that showed us something of its actual size, then you would probably enjoy the season 1 finale of the Disney+ show The Book of Boba Fett. Tim Goddard has recreated the scene in miniature, pitting a pair of newly canonized Skorpenek devastator droids against Boba Fett riding on the back of a raging rancor.

SPOILER ALERT The rancor not only wins, but more than a few parts get ripped off and shoved in places they were not meant to go.

A sci-fi build that tickles us pink

With a cheap string of LED lights placed inside a tube of transparent bricks, Andreas Lenander has added some big budget atmosphere to his latest build. The resulting rosy glow perfectly illuminates the power core chamber, creating a sci-fi scene that you can almost hear humming with life. The roller coaster track used as scaffolding adds an industrial flair that makes this power source feel functional, while also casting some subtle zigzag shadows onto the surrounding walls.

The origin story of Czech motoring

LEGO’s Speed Champions line has done a pretty good job of covering cars from a diverse range of eras, but they’re yet to represent the really early days of the automobile. In truth it’s unlikely they ever will, but thankfully we have builders like Pixeljunkie to scratch that particular itch! Pixeljunkie is no stranger to vintage automotive builds, and his latest creation is a doozy all the way from 1905. The car in question is the Laurin & Klement (L&K) company’s first motor car, the Voiturette A, which is where the firm now known as Skoda can trace its origins to. The company originally made bicycles, which makes the use of bicycle wheels for the car’s spindly wheels rather appropriate! Nougat and .dark red pieces are good approximations of the wooden body. The lamp on the right hand side of the car is worthy of further inspection, as well. It’s very simple: two gold chrome pieces, including the One Ring, on a headlight brick. The fact this headlight brick is transparent, though, makes the gold pieces stand out, and makes the lamp seem smaller and daintier than if a solid colour had been used. Finally, take note of the umbrella used as detailing on the footplate… There’s no roof on this puppy, so if it rains, you may need it!

Quite the creeper, this grim reaper

An amazing LEGO creation doesn’t always need to be a big one. This is proven by Moko. They created a grim reaper and it is the best one in LEGO minifigure scale that I’ve ever seen. The base of the grim reaper is a regular all black minifigure with the modified skull head. For the hood of the cloaked figure the black technic helmet including black visor have been used. It sure is nice to see a classic part like this resurface every now and then. The classic minifigure hood has been used to represent the sleeves of this grim reaper. And last but not least the Hidden Side ghost pedestal makes this figure tower over other minifigures when it comes to its height. This all combined makes one scary grim reaper.

A happy little brick-blending robot

This smiling mixer by Filbrick blends big LEGO bricks down into little ones with delight! The robot just wants to help you build by offering a variety of brick sizes. The happy little appliance possesses wonderful rounded edges and arm joints, which make the red bricks stand out with their hard edges. The curvature in the top of the processor lid is made possible by hinge plates. The bricks inside the blending swirl are suspended using transparent pieces for that added kinetic feel. Of course, the LEGO fun doesn’t end there! The backsplash, plug and outlet, and the kitchen utensils are all brick-built, giving the whole scene a fun, playful atmosphere. The inclusion of a DUPLO brick is a nice touch–always good to see other LEGO products make appearances with the more widely known lines.

LEGO Naboo starfighter – An elegant ship from a more civilized age

Say what you want about the prequel trilogy, but it is hard to deny that the films came with more than a few iconic ships to give the Millenium Falcon some merchandising competition. Koen Zwanenburg was inspired to make a larger version of this ship having acquired a 4×4 Artoo head from a 2017 polybag. The entire ship was built to scale for this larger printed dome. Koen did a masterful job with the sleek lines and the delicate tail section. The engines are made from hollow tipper drums, which allow the thin wings to hold the weight without bending.

And check out this beautiful head-on view, which really shows off the delicate wings with the large engines that present one of the major challenges with building this ship, which Koen handled like a Jedi.

A landspeeder of a more manageable size

As the internet is going (appropriately) gaga for the new Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder set, builder Nicholas Goodman offers this lovely vignette highlighting a smaller alternative. The landspeeder here is a slightly modified version of the one designed by Fuku Saku, and has a great shape and color, with some lovely details on the engines utilizing the LEGO cauldron piece. And the design for the windscreen, while unorthodox, is an excellent way to form the appropriate shape at this scale. For the rest of the scene, the terrain is well formed and very Tatooine-esque. I particularly like Nicholas’s use studs to add texture to the desert sands. The minifigs are also well-posed, setting the scene for Luke and Obi-Wan’s first introduction.

Here’s an up-close shot of the back of the speeder to showcase all the detail that went into those engines. Nicholas’s mastery of angles is remarkable given the scale!

Italian craftsmanship, German engineering, and Danish bricks

When thinking of the early development of the supercar in the 1980s, most people will probably think of the Lamborghini Countach or the Ferrari Testarossa as the poster boys of that era. One that sometimes gets overlooked — unfairly, if you ask me — is the BMW M1. It mixes the craziness of the Italian-born wedge-shape with some classic German refinement and engineering. LEGO builder Leo 1 has perfectly captured the first German supercar (I count the original Porsche 911 as a grand tourer, before you ask!) in all its orange glory. A pair of headlight bricks are the perfect choice for the BMW snout nose, as are the circular tiles for the rims.

The exquisite shaping continues around the rear of the car. Slopes and tiles at subtle angles abound to capture the sharp shape of this Bimmer, which is not easy in bright orange as the parts palette is still fairly limited. The little details, like the interior or wing mirrors, are the cherry on the cake. And we can all agree that twin-pipe exhausts just make a car look cooler, can’t we…?